Operation Ramsgate

Designated a Heritage Action Zone by Historic England, a new book explains why this seaside town is so special

- Jack Watkins

Ramsgate is a classic Thanet seaside town that is also right in the vanguard of our national heritage. And it’s not just down to the patronage of royalty in the early 19th century, which made it a fashionable place to stay, and led in 1821 to its designation as a ‘royal’ harbour – the only harbour to be so named in Great Britain.

Ramsgate was a key trade and fishing port and from the mid-18th century it became increasingly popular as a sea bathing resort. Nearby is Pegwell Bay, traditionally held to be the landing place of the Saxons in 449AD and of Augustine of Canterbury in 597.

Ramsgate served as a port of military embarkation during the Napoleonic wars and in 1940 it was from Ramsgate that the famous ‘little ships’ sailed to relieve Dunkirk.

In 2017 the town was designated a Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) by Historic England, a partnership initiative which aims to encourage economic growth by using the town’s historic environment as a catalyst. Despite struggling with the issues that have beset most seaside towns since the 1970s, the town boasts a diverse and characterful streetscape, including many distinctive historic buildings.

Geraint Franklin, an architectural investigator for Historic England, has been preparing a new book on Ramsgate (due for publication in March, see page 44) as part of the five-year HAZ project.

Welsh born, he says he approached the town with the fresh eyes of an outsider and that “in walking down the high street to the harbour for the first time, the reason for doing this project was so immediately apparent, because while the boarded-up shop fronts told one story, the richness and distinctiveness of the historic environment immediately leapt out at you.”